Defend America Once Again

Reports that our sovereign air space is being repeatedly penetrated, and that it has evidently been going on unnoticed for some time, are profoundly unsettling. Unfortunately, they highlight a serious national vulnerability heretofore unknown to most Americans.

That vulnerability arises from the fact that, after President Nixon signed the U.S.-Soviet Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 1972, America basically gave up on most active and even passive defenses of our country. The theory was that having agreed to forswear effective anti-missile systems, it made little sense to maintain comprehensive air defenses, extensive protection for our leadership or any real civil defense for our population.

Instead, we embraced a notion called Mutual Assured Destruction, or MAD. Our perfect vulnerability backed by a nuclear deterrent was said to be the formula for security.

MAD is, well, mad. Clearly, we need to defend America once again.

This is Frank Gaffney.